The PlayStation 4 finally gets an exclusive to be proud of, with a stunning new action game from the creator of Dark Souls.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of gaming knows not to expect too much in the first year or so of a console’s life. The slow build-up is a frustrating but predictable part of the hardware life cycle, where the few exclusives that are released are inevitably just shallow tech demos – games doomed to be forgotten as soon as the more substantial offerings start coming out. Bloodborne is the first such game on the PlayStation 4, and it is glorious.

Previous Sony exclusives like inFamous: Second Son and The Order: 1886 are games designed more to be watched than they are to be played, but Bloodborne is different. Bloodborne is a thoroughbred video game, one whose pleasures exist only through its interactivity and your sense of mastery over the environment and the controls.

As the connection with Dark Souls will have already suggested Bloodborne is not an easy game, either to play or to learn. Indeed, it takes a terrible risk these days in crediting its players with the patience and intelligence to discover its secrets for themselves – and to appreciate that by doing so they exponentially increase their own enjoyment.

This is perfectly illustrated in the opening moments of the game, which are wonderfully audacious in how they explain absolutely nothing about what’s going on or how you are meant to defend yourself. We won’t spoil the details here but the sequence is not as sadistic as it first seems; like every other encounter in the game, no matter how unfair it may seem at first, it’s all there to teach you through doing rather than telling.

To avoid putting anyone off we should point out that Bloodborne is not quite as difficult as Dark Souls and notably less obscure. It’s still a million miles away from the linear hand-holding of most yearly sequels but it’s never quite as perverse as From Software’s other games. The storytelling is still purposefully sketchy though, as you play a mysetrious ‘hunter’ who has travelled to the city of Yharnam to discover the cure to a terrible disease which turns people into animalistic monsters.

Although the game’s wonderfully detailed (and wonderfully disgusting when it comes to the creatures) art style is reminiscent of Dark Souls the world itself is more technically advanced than previous games, as evidenced in the gothic architecture and use of primitive firearms.

Despite this your primary weapons are various swords, spears, and axes and the core third person action is still reminiscent of the Souls games. That’s to say it’s slower-paced and less complicated than something like Bayonetta, or even God Of War, but it shares a similar need for situational awareness and dodging out of the way until the perfect time to strike.

There is no block in Bloodborne though, and no shields, with the game instead fostering a more aggressive play style by regenerating a percentage of lost health if you attack the enemy that injured you within a few seconds. This is a brilliantly simple concept which works perfectly to increase the pace of combat and to encourage experimentation and courage in the face of the game’s grotesque monsters.

A more subtle difference is the way the lock-on system works, and how it seeks to disrupt the old trick of simply circle strafing around an enemy. When locked-on you can only sidestep out of the way, and have to unlock again to do a more acrobatic dodge roll. This may seem restrictive at first, but once you learn the best situations to use each technique you’ll be dancing around giant boss creatures as if it was Strictly Come Dark Souls.

Bloodborne (PS4) – beautifully horrific

There are less individual melee weapons than previous Souls games but each one is more distinctive, and comes with its own alternative mode that is slower but more powerful (with the transformation between also having its own unique properties). The signature ‘Saw Cleaver’, for example, springs open to double its reach, although our choice of starting weapon was the Hunter Axe, which becomes a giant double-handed blade that is perfect for cutting down multiple enemies as they crowd around you.

The guns are treated very much as a secondary weapon, primarily to knock an enemy off balance and ready them for a more powerful attack. They use a limited supply of silver bullets but these can be topped up in emergencies in exchange for some of your health. The problem is though that many of the enemies are also armed with similar weapons…

Although the core combat is identifiably different to Dark Souls there are many other elements that are almost exactly the same: you now have lamps instead of bonfires to act as fast travel points but they still perform the same function, and while you collect ‘blood echoes’ now instead of souls if you die you still have to retrieve them from where you fell if you want them back.

The role-playing elements are slightly simplified, with less attributes to upgrade, but again they work in the same basic way – albeit with slightly more explanation of how to improve yourself and your weapons.

Director Hidetaka Miyazaki worked on the first Dark Souls though, not the second, and for anyone dissatisfied by the sequel they’ll find many of their complaints addressed here. The most obvious is the level design, which is not only wonderfully complex but actually feels like one giant world connected in the most unexpected ways – rather than just just several discreet stages that may as well have been parts of a different game.

Bloodborne (PS4) – a helping hand is available online

The online servers have been up for a few days now, and although we can’t tell how they’ll stand up under the stress of busy usage the co-op and competitive elements are also similar to Dark Souls. Allies can be called into your game to help, or you can make yourself available to others, while less charitable players can sneak in to challenge you. Messages from other players are offered up to you by creepy little skeletons instead of just being written on the floor – but again the principle is the same as the previous games.

What is brand new to Bloodborne is the Chalice Dungeons, which are primarily randomly-generated areas accessed separately from the rest of the game world. But at the moment they don’t seem quite properly balanced, and it’s actually possible to enter one at a much higher level than any of the enemies. Together with a few noticeable bugs you get the impression that this element wasn’t quite finished in time for release.

We’re confident this will be addressed in fairly short order but it’s not the only technical issue. Ironically, Bloodborne is not a particularly great advert for the PlayStation 4. The frame rate constantly suffers minor hiccups and on a technical level the graphics aren’t terrible impressive, with some surprisingly basic character models and some very simplistic ragdoll physics that give the impression that all the dead bodies are filled with cotton wool.

The only problem that caused us any real upset though is the mammoth load times, which can run up to 30 seconds or more after every death. And considering how often you die in this game that’s a real inconvenience, especially as you can double that figure if the first thing you do when you respawn is fast travel.

Of course no game is perfect, but Bloodborne does come tantalisingly close. And yet we admit it’s not a game for everyone; it’s too demanding for that, although the only absolute requirement to master it is time and patience. Give it that and Bloodborne will reward you a thousandfold, for this is not just the best game on the PlayStation 4 – this is one of the best games of all time.

Bloodborne

In Short: One of the best action games of the generation and a stunning achievement in terms of gameplay, art design, and encouraging players to push themselves beyond their limits.

Pros: Superb combat system is elegantly simple and hugely versatile. Amazing world design and wonderfully disgusting enemies. Great online features and role-playing elements.

Cons: Long load times can be hugely frustrating. Some minor frame rate problems, and the Chalice Dungeons need some tweaking and bug-fixing.